1775- At fix o’clock in the morning of the 12th, being in the
■ Feblimy'. latitude of 58° 23' S., longitude 6° 54' W., the variation was
Sunday .a . w _. W e had variable light airs next to a calm all this
day, and the weather was fair and clear till towards the
evening, when it became cloudy with fnow fhowers, and
the air very cold. Ice-iflands continually in fight; moft of
them fmall and breaking to pieces.
Monday .3. In the afternoon of the 13th-, the wind increafed, the Iky
became clouded, and foon after we had a very heavy fall of
fnow which continued till eight or nine o’clock in the evening,
when the wind abating and veering to S. E„ the Iky
cleared up. and we had a fair night, attended with fo fliarp
a froft, that the water in all our veflels on deck was next
morning covered with a fheetof ice. The mercury in the
thermometer was as low as 29°, which is 30 below freezing,
or rather 4; for we generally found the water freeze when
the mercury flood at 330. ’
Tuefday i 4. Towards noon on the 14th, the wind veering to the South,
increafed to a very ftrong gale, and blew in heavy fqualls
attended with fnow. At intervals, between the fqualls, the
weather was fair and clear, but exceedingly cold. We continued
to fleer Eaft, inclining a little to the North, and in the
afternoon crofted the firft meridian, or that of Greenwich, in
the latitude of' 570 50' S. At eight in the evening, we clofe-
reefed the top-fails, took in the main-fail, and fleered Eaft
with a very hard gale at S. S. W., and a high fea from the-
fame diredfion.
Wednef. ,5 . At day-break on the 15th, we fet the main-fail, loofed a
reef out of each top-fail, and with a-very ftrong gale at S. W.,
and fair weather, fleered E. N. E. till noon, at which time we
were in the latitude of 56° 37' s -> longitude 40 11' Eaft, when
we
we pointed to the N. E., in order to get into the latitude of
Cape Circumcifion. Some large ice-iflands were in fight,
and the air was nearly as cold as on the preceding day. At
eight o'clock in the evening, fhortened fail, and at eleven
hauled the wind to the N. W., not daring to ftand on in the
night, which was foggy, with fnow-fhowers, and a fmart
froft.
At day-break on the 16th, we bore awayN. E., with a light Thurfday 16.
breeze at Weft, which, at noon, was fucceeded by a calm and
fair weather. Our latitude at this time was $5° 2,6' S., longitude
50 52. Eaft, in which fituation we had a great fwell from
the fouthward, but ho ice in fight. At one o’clock in the
P. M., a breeze fpringing up at E. N. E., we flood to S. E. till
fix, then tacked, and flood to the North, under double-reefed
top-fails and courfes, having a very frefli gale attended with
fnow and fleet, which fixed to the mafts and rigging as it fell,
and coated the whole with ice.
On the 17th the wind continued veering, by little and little Frya)r l?_
to the South, till midnight, when it fixed at S. W. Being at
this time in the latitude of 540' 20'. S., longitude 6° 33' Eaft, I
fleered Eaft, having a prodigious high fea from the South,
which affined us no land was near in that direction.
In the morning of the i8th, it ceafed to fnow ; the weather Salurday l8>
became fair and clear ; and we found the variation to be 13° .
44' Weft. At noon we were in the latitude of 540 25', longitude
8° 46' Eaft. I thought this a good latitude to keep in, to
look for Cape Circumcifion; becaufe, if the land had ever fo
little extent in the diredlion of North and South, we could not
mifs feeing it, as the northern point is faid to lie in 54°. We
had yet a great fwell from the South, fo that I was now well
H h 2 aflitred
Wednef. 15.